This angular, white concrete-clad detached house has been developed by an interdisciplinary Atelier Nuno Lacerda Lopes. Specialising not only in architecture, but also in engineering, stage design, design, urban planning, landscape architecture, media and editing, the Portuguese practice have based the project on ‘an idea of a concrete box with a strong geometric complexity’. Composed of three floors, one of which serves as a parking space, the single family residence is located in the northwestern Portuguese city of Braga and it was completed in 2011.

Braga’s House by Atelier Nuno Lacerda Lopes; photo by Nelson Garrido

More about the project:

‘This house is based on an idea of a concrete box with a strong geometric complexity. Although it is perceived as a whole faceted form, the volume’s fracture strongly determines the shape of the building. The volume combines two lateral parts, with a central lower one that unites them. Predominantly closed in itself and homogeneously covered by the same exterior material – white concrete – this house opens up strategically through glazing and balconies’ moments that create a relationship with the outside. The extent of the coating used on the exterior walls gives a sense of continuity, which reinforces the box idea.

‘Both volumes take on different configurations that are associated with its relationship between the built mass and the search for the exterior side of the house, while simultaneously creating hanging elements, which somehow enhances the artistic value of this house’s formal concept. This building’s volumetric fragmentation results in the formation of corners and edges contributing to an outstanding exterior perception.’

Braga’s House by Atelier Nuno Lacerda Lopes; photo by Nelson Garrido

‘The roof also represents an important element of the house’s formal solution. It integrates the same set of edges that characterizes its formal conception through slopes with different orientations and inclinations. The volumetric set is also reflected in the interior space’s characterization, where we get a variety of spaces, enabling different physical and sensory experiences.

‘The house is developed on three floors and features new ways of inhabiting, allowing greater use flexibility. While the basement floor is solely intended for car parking, the ground floor gives way to the social spaces and on the first floor there are the private spaces. Spatially the top floor is marked, not only by the sensory experience of the various roofs’slopes, but also in what regards the relationship established with the floor area. There’s a doubled height area crossed by a bridge giving access to one of the rooms. This area is also marked by a longitudinal skylight that contributes to this housing solution’s spatial richness.’